Workers are earning more, but inflation is rising even faster. New government data shows Americans' real income is declining. read more
More than 100 profitable US corporations, including Tesla, Walt Disney and United Airlines, paid no current federal income tax in 2025, according to a report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The findings raise questions about corporate tax breaks and government revenue. read more
The Iran war has exposed Gulf Arab states' vulnerabilities, including through their reliance on a U.S. whose priorities are diverging from their own. read more
What followed Hitler's appointment as chancellor was a kind of "flood the zone" strategy -- an early election call, a blizzard of executive orders curtailing press freedom ... read more
The New York Times' last Siena Polls are showing a huge night tomorrow for Democrats. read more
Tangentially related ...
War widens in the Black Sea in a test of NATO red lines
www.reuters.com
... After seven strikes on cargo ships near NATO members Romania and Bulgaria last month, the US-led military alliance said it would deploy maritime patrol aircraft, radars and drones to bolster its eastern flank in the Black Sea.
Three days later, on October 23, another ship was struck just outside Romanian waters. And last week a Greek container ship was sunk by naval drones in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone.
Unabating attacks show how the escalating maritime war between Russia and Ukraine is expanding into a major challenge for NATO in the Black Sea that has left littoral member states such as Romania and Bulgaria exposed. ...
Pres Trump loses another ...
Judge dismisses case against 2 ex-FBI officials in Hunter Biden probe
www.cbsnews.com
... A federal magistrate judge on Monday dismissed a criminal complaint charging two former senior FBI counterintelligence officials with lying to Congress about their roles in the bureau's Hunter Biden investigation, saying the politically charged case lacked evidence and appeared to be timed with the midterm election.
In a scathing, hour-long oral ruling, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui rebuked the Justice Department and the FBI for what he called a "slapdash" case that lacked any probable cause that there was evidence Nikki Floris or Bradley Benavides had committed a crime.
"Without motive, without direct evidence, I have nothing," he said. "It's not close. It's nothing."
"I am deeply troubled by what has happened in this case," Faruqui said. "What has transpired here can't be described as anything other than weaponization."
Although the complaint was dismissed, the Justice Department could still appeal Faruqui's ruling to the chief judge or seek a grand jury indictment. ...
@#3 ... He also said he would have ended the Vietnam war in a week. ...
Pres Trump has also said that he won his war against Iran back in March 2026. (note that I seem to feel a need to put a year on that date)
Pres Trump says a lot of things. Mostly MAGA seems to be the only folk who belive what he says.
Indeed, he has recently said to the attendees at his rally, "I Could Say The Stupidest Things And You'd Clap"
Trump Tells Supporters: I Could Say The Stupidest Things And You'd Clap'
www.forbes.com
NASA's 1977 computers aboard Voyager are still working in interstellar space (April 2026)
wp.modern-science.net
... As millions around the world watched on smartphones, T.V.s, or in person, Artemis II and its four-person crew burst from the ground on April 1 and successfully began its 10-day journey to the moon. While all eyes were focused on the Orion spacecraft, it's worth remembering that it takes a small army of humans"and computers"to make these kinds of awe-inspiring journeys possible. And just like everyday tech users, NASA also has to upgrade its systems from time to time, and the one powering Artemis looks nothing like their relic ancestors. That doesn't necessarily mean those older versions did not work.
Resurfaced footage released by YouTuber Gary Friedman shows some of the sturdy computing hardware that powered Voyager 1 and 2, a pair of spacecraft first launched in 1977 and tasked with taking a trip through our solar system. Incredibly, both of these spacecraft are still functional in deep space, despite relying on vintage hardware older than many of NASA's engineers today.
The roughly 14-minute video shows a NASA engineer taking viewers on a tour of Building 230 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. As he walks through the room, he passes an assortment of refrigerator-sized computers made by Univac and IBM. He also stops to acknowledge punch cards used to communicate with the spacecraft, old tape drives, and a communication hub lined with phones and small monitors that one engineer calls "the heartbeat of the enterprise," The voice behind the camera says he is documenting these historic devices, "before they replace it all with mainframes."
All of this ancient-looking hardware was tasked with overseeing the operational safety of the Voyager craft, which are currently well over 16 billion miles from Earth in interstellar space. On board both spacecraft is a suite of custom-made computers and electronics built prior to 1977. Each of the Voyager craft has three computer systems onboard, with a total memory capacity of just 69.63 kilobytes -- that's less than a standard JPEG file.
Scientific data collected by the spacecraft is encoded onto a digital 8-track machine before being transmitted back to Earth. Since memory is in such short supply, the spacecraft constantly write over old data once it's transmitted. ...
... questioned why Republicans should "suffer the slings" ...
So, Pres Trump is cutting off the aid for political reasons?
Will he reinstate the aid after the midterms?